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Test: Ring Video Doorbell 2

So far, we at moobilux.com have mainly reported on smart home solutions, which are mainly in the house. With the test of the Doorbell 2 of the American manufacturer Ring, now comes for the first time an IoT solution for the outside area, more precisely, the front door to the test.
The Ring Doorbell 2 is a smart doorbell with integrated Full HD video camera, which presents the visitor on the doorstep on the smartphone, in the ring app including video. Before you have to integrate the smart doorbell but first in his WLAN and then mounted on or next to the front door.

It is nice that the Ring Doorbell 2 already supplies all the necessary materials for this purpose. In addition, a power connection is not absolutely necessary because the bell has its own removable battery that can be charged via USB cable.

Design
The design of the Ring Doorbell 2 looks a bit clunky and bulky at first with its 13 × 6.3 × 2.7 centimeters. The reason for the thick dimensions is the large battery that is reminiscent of a battery for SLR cameras.
As a result, the bell next to the door falls particularly strong in the eye. Significantly more, than a conventional door intercom and much more than a normal bell button. The manufacturer has put two plastic covers in the package, one black and one silver, which are pushed over the battery compartment and locked there.
The upper part of the ring is always black, unfortunately, the plastic looks just not so valuable here and fingerprints are immediately visible. In a more family house, the Doorbell 2 is also difficult, because the integrated motion detector of the bell beats, constantly alarm, even if only someone in the stairwell, uses the same to get to the next floor. The manufacturer himself recommends to our request to deactivate the motion detector of the ring Doorbell 2 to avoid false alarms.Facility
The Doorbell 2 is set up, as is customary with smart home devices, via an app for Android & iOS, which must first be downloaded from the App Store. After installation, you must register with the manufacturer, then connect the app to the device. For this purpose, there is a setup button inside the housing. Speak open the case, insert the battery, press the button, connect the smartphone with the WLAN of the bell and follow the instructions in the app.

First, the app searches for all available wireless networks. Then select the correct WLAN, enter the password. The Doorbell 2 then reboots and connects, if everything went smoothly, first with the in-house network and then with the cloud. In our test, with the guests Wi-Fi our Fritzbox, however, there were problems with the required ports, so we had to switch to the conventional WLAN, where it ran without problems.

Commitment
After the device has been completed and the battery has been fully charged, you can start. A press of the button causes the gong inside the Doorbell 2 house to ring, almost at the same time you get a push message on the connected smartphone, which does not need to be in your home WLAN. If you want, you can also connect several smartphones, one for each family member. In practice, it is striking that individual parts of the app are not translated. The deeper you go into the settings, the more you come across options in English.
In the app, in which you accept the incoming calls (because it is not more) Doorbell 2, announces itself after the operation of the bell button by a ringing, as in a call. Unfortunately, it takes some time until the app has built a video and audio connection from the front door to the phone. Sometimes there were also connection problems from time to time. So it took in practice often longer than if you yourself had run to the door.
To answer the call of the Ring Doorbell 2, you have two hands, one green and one red to choose from. If you have the person in front of the door on his smartphone, you can also optional mute, the microphone and, or the speaker Doorbell 2. You can talk to the person in front of the door via the bidirectional connection of the bell. The audio quality is okay and it is enough to communicate.

A positive impression leaves the camera quality. Because here is an extreme wide-angle lens installed, which allows a detailed view of the front door. So you see the person in front of the door even if the camera is not directly aligned with the space in front of the door. Even in poor lighting conditions or in night mode, the camera delivers the ring Doorbell 2, thanks to the four infrared LEDs always a good picture. In addition, if the appropriate settings have been made, you can access the live image at any time via the app and you do not have to wait for someone to ring the bell.

Conclusion
The idea of ​​the Ring Doorbell 2 is good, but the device is clunky in design and in the purchase with 199, – Euro quite expensive. In addition, the Doorbell 2 is designed especially for single-family homes, which is not only noticeable in the hypersensitive motion detector, because when it sounds alarm in front of a house, which is much higher, that there is a real reason.

In the staircase of a multi-family house, however, the motion detector is a very bad indicator. Moreover, you would need in an apartment building two to three devices including an integration into the existing bell or intercom system. Which then beat not only in the multiple purchase price to book, but also a paid monthly plan (subscription contract) tired. Either way, the Doorbell 2 still has plenty of room for optimization.